It is known to present a street view image 450 responsive to user selection of a street 420 vantage point 430 on a satellite image 410, as shown in FIG. 4, or on a map. A map and a satellite image are both examples of what may be referred to herein as a “plan view,” which is a view 410 that shows street 420 from a vantage point that is substantially directly above street 420, as if from the vantage point of an airplane or satellite. In an alternative to plan view 410, a perspective view may be provided that shows a perspective layout of streets such as street 420 viewed from a vantage point that is higher than eye level above street 420, but not as high as a satellite or an airplane, and that is at a substantial distance to the side of street 420. Plan and perspective views are each examples of a view referred to herein as an “above-street” view.
Street view 450 shows an image from a selected vantage point 430 at substantially eye level directly above a point on street 420 and looking away from street 420 as if standing or driving on street 420. The user may then rotate the initial plane of street view 450 to a obtain an image from the same vantage point 430, but viewing more upward or downward or more forward or backward along the path of street 420, which the user may do by manipulating interface object 460.
The term “street” as used herein refers to any kind of path, whether public or private and whether in a populated or unpopulated area, for which images are stored of objects there beside, such as buildings, trees, signs, features of the terrain, etc. The term “street” includes a highway, road or frontage road, avenue, boulevard, pedestrian walkway, trail, etc. The term “street view” as used herein generally refers to an image of such objects taken from a vantage point on a street, or at least near the street and between the street and the object or objects in the image. In certain usages, the term “street view” may be limited as described in the paragraph herein above to refer to an image that is a view of one or more objects in, or projected upon, a plane that is, at least initially, substantially vertical relative to a substantially horizontal plan for the street, where the plane for the street is a the street is in or a plane directly above the street upon which an image of the street is projected. The term “image” may refer to a depiction, which may be photorealistic or less than photorealistic, and may refer to a photographic image. The term “street view” and the term “street view image” may be used interchangeably herein.